Techniques for telephony-based voting

ABSTRACT

A telephone network voting system receives telephone ballots cast by voters by dialing a telephone number. The telephone number is dialed by voters spread over a large geographic area. The voting calls are routed to points of presence local to or otherwise identified with the caller by using the caller&#39;s ANI or other originating number identification. The points of presence then accumulate votes and periodically forward tallies to a centralized location over a data network. Instructions may be transmitted from the centralized location to the points of presence.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a network-based vote-castingand tallying system and, more particularly, to a network ballotingsystem capable of handling a large volume of voting calls spread over alarge geographic area or network space.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic voting techniques are often used to collect public opinionfrom an audience during an event. For example, members of an audiencemay be asked to submit their individual opinions via a communications orcomputer network during a televised entertainment event or during apolitical event. The individual opinions may then be analyzed todetermine the aggregate opinions of the audience.

Frequently, voting is triggered by a live, broadcast announcement. Forexample, a televised talent show may ask the audience to vote on apreferred performer, providing a toll-free (8YY) number for audiencemembers to call to place a vote. Vast numbers of votes are thereforeplaced nearly simultaneously.

In a typical scenario, a media company interested in staging such atelevision viewer-based voting event contracts with a network providerto provide one or more 8YY numbers that audience members can call fromtheir residential phones to place a vote. Current processes result inthose calls being routed through a local company (e.g., an incumbentlocal exchange carrier (ILEC)) which then determines to whichinter-exchange carrier (IXC) to send the call based on the dialed 8YYnumber. That results in access charges being paid by the contractingnetwork provider to the ILEC for completing the call. Such a networkconfiguration also focuses the calls on a centralized location, therebypotentially clogging up (part of) the network.

Systems have been proposed for overcoming the congestion problemtriggered by a telephone voting event. For example, U.S. Pat. No.6,768,895 discloses a mobile telephone voting system wherein a pollingserver authorizes only a predetermined percentage of incoming votingcalls. The percentage is increased or decreased in subsequent roundsbased on a statistical analysis of the previous results. In that way,the polling server may be scaled down and network congestion is reduced.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,266 discloses a local voting system foropinion-gathering in a conference center, an auditorium or the like. Thesystem utilizes telephone handsets for use by the voters. Calling lineidentity is user to identify any ineligible callers.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,337 discusses televoting in an intelligent network.Voting calls are routed according to the dialed number to a serviceswitching point, where the calls are processed. The calls are filteredby calling number to verify that the call is from an allowed area.

A telephone polling method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,774, inwhich an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) is utilized to processballots. In that method, a local originating switch sends a request tothe AIN for information on how to route the call (as is done for anyother call even if not a “ballot” call). The AIN determines that thecalled number belongs to a subscriber to the ballot service, and makes atally in a database of the number called. Several structures aredescribed for collecting votes: the subscriber can have one number foreach candidate, in which case a call to the number indicates a vote forthe corresponding candidate. Alternatively, a single number may be usedfor all candidates, in which case a caller interaction program asks whothe voter is voting for. In either case, the AIN can provide a callertermination announcement.

The '774 patent further describes moving the AIN-local switchinteraction from the originating switch to the terminating switch, usinga “terminating trigger.” The AIN tabulates the votes in that case aswell.

It is known in the telecommunications art to route a call based on callorigination information. For example, in emergency systems such as the911 system, a single number (911) is used over a large geographic areafor local emergency services. An emergency 911 call is routed to anemergency center local to the caller based on the calling number.

Similarly, retail goods and services having a telephone contact numberthat is publicized or marketed nationally or regionally may use aservice whereby a call to the nationally-marketed telephone number willbe routed to a retail outlet nearest the caller. The routing is based onthe Automatic Number Identification (ANI), wherein a caller's telephonenumber is contained in the call set-up messaging. The AIN accesses adatabase correlating caller telephone numbers with the closest retailoutlets. The AIN looks up the calling number in the database anddetermines the telephone number of the closest retail location to thecaller; it then returns that number to the originating local switch.That switch routes the call to the retail location closest to thecaller.

In the above examples of network voting systems, it is the AIN that istabulating the voting results. That situation creates a bottleneck inthat all requests go to a single location. There remains a need for atelephonic voting system that may be used to record opinion during anational or widely-viewed event, while minimizing network congestioncaused by the voting calls and reducing or eliminating network accesscharges to the long distance carrier.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the needs described above by providing amethod and system for receiving votes in a network. In one embodiment, amethod is provided for receiving a ballot from a caller in anetwork-based voting system. The method includes receiving from thecaller a ballot addressed to a prearranged network identifier, theballot including a caller identifier, and, based on the calleridentifier, routing the ballot to a network node local to the caller.Tallied ballots are periodically received from the local network node.

At least a portion of the network-based voting system may be atelephony-based system. The network identifier may be a telephonenumber. In that case the caller identifier may be a caller telephonenumber, which may be determined using ANI.

At least a portion of the network-based voting system may be an IPnetwork. In that case, at least one of the network identifier and thecaller identifier may be an IP address. At least one of the networkidentifier and the caller identifier may alternatively be a URL.

The method may further comprise the step of forwarding instructions tothe local network node for processing a ballot. The instructions mayinclude data representing a set of candidates.

The prearranged network identifier may identify a candidate for whom thecaller is voting.

In another embodiment of the invention, a telephony-based voting systemincludes a database containing a mapping of voter telephone numbers topoints of presence, a call router configured to route a telephone ballotcontaining a voter telephone number to a selected one of a plurality ofpoints of presence based on the voter telephone number and the mappingof voter telephone numbers to points of presence, and a centralized siteconfigured for periodically receiving telephone ballots from the pointsof presence.

The call router may further be configured to route calls directed to asingle balloting telephone number, or to route telephone ballotsdirected to a plurality of balloting telephone numbers.

The centralized site may further be configured to transmit instructionsto the points of presence. Those instructions may include voice data.The voice data may include a courtesy response.

The points of presence may include interactive voice response systems.Those interactive voice response systems may be configured to prompt andreceive a ballot for a particular candidate.

Another embodiment of the invention is a network-based voting systemthat includes a plurality of nodes for receiving ballots from voters, adatabase containing a mapping of voter network identifiers to the nodes,a router configured to route a ballot to a selected one of the pluralityof nodes based on an associated voter network identifier and the mappingof voter network identifiers to nodes, and a centralized site configuredfor periodically tallying the ballots from each of the nodes and forperiodically transmitting instructions to the nodes for processing theballots.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of portion of a communicationsnetwork implementing one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a method according to one embodimentof the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Stated generally, the system and method of the present invention routesballot calls to a localized point-of-presence (POP) based on routingtechniques used for services such as 911 routing. The ballot call isrouted to a local destination even though the caller dials a number thatis used nationally or in a large region. The routing makes use of thecaller's ANI or other caller identification technology to determine thecaller's geographic or network location, and determines the local POPnearest the caller to which to route the call. The caller casts a ballotby selecting which balloting number to call, or may be prompted by aninteractive voice response (IVR) system. At periodic intervals, thelocal POPs forward accumulated tallies to a centralized location via theInternet or another data network. Instructions may periodically bedownloaded from the centralized location to the POPs.

An exemplary embodiment of a system according to the present inventionis shown in FIG. 1. In that example, two callers or voters 110, 120 areplacing ballots. Caller 110 is in local area A (112) and caller 120 isin local area B (122). Each caller 110, 120 is connected to the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN) 140 by a residential line 114, 124.

The callers 110, 120 each use one or more toll-free 8YY numbers (such asa number with an 800 area code) for voting. In one embodiment of theinvention, a single 8YY number per candidate is assigned. In that case,a call to a number indicates a vote for a candidate. In anotherembodiment, a single 8YY number is used for the entire election. In thatembodiment, an IVR is used to prompt the caller to vote for the desiredcandidate by, for example, pressing designated keys on a touchtonephone.

In either case, the call itself is not routed through the long-distanceprovider network, as would normally be done to connect a toll-freenumber. Instead, when an 8YY ballot call is received at a localoriginating switch in the PSTN 140, the switch queries the AIN todetermine how to route the call, as would be done for any call at theoriginating switch. The originating switch may even have the routinginformation already stored or cached locally. In the system and methodof the invention, the AIN does not tabulate the votes; instead, the AINdirects the originating switch to route the call to one of numerouslocal “voting booths” or points of presence. The particular POP to whichto route the call is chosen by looking up the calling telephone number(as determined using ANI) in a database mapping originating telephonenumbers with POPs closest to the subscriber (either geographically or onthe network). The database may be part of the industry toll-freedatabase 130, or may be maintained locally in the originating switches.Based on that information, the originating switch routes the ballot callto the voting booth (i.e., another switch or POP) “closest” to thecaller.

In certain instances, it may be inconvenient or even impossible todetermine a local area from which a call originates. For example, a calloriginating from a voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone or a mobile phone mayoriginate in a location geographically unrelated to the originatingtelephone number. In such a case, other parameters, such as anoriginating cell location in the case of a mobile call, or a user-inputin the case of a VoIP call, may be used to determine an originatinggeographic location. Similar techniques are used in emergency 911systems. Another approach is to simply ignore the geographic point oforigin of the call, and to instead route the call to a voting boothbased on some other criterion, or randomly. The distribution of thecalls among a plurality of voting booths will still avoid focusedoverload.

In any case, in the example shown in FIG. 1, the balloting call fromcaller 110 is routed to local POP 116 in local area A (112), and theballoting call from caller 120 is routed to local POP 126 in local areaB (122).

If a single 8YY number is assigned per election, the local POPs 116, 126would include IVRs to prompt the caller to place a vote for anindividual candidate. If each candidate is assigned a unique 8YY numberin an election, an IVR might still be included in each POP to respondwith a courtesy message indicating, for example, that a vote has beenreceived for the corresponding candidate. In either case, the POPs 116,126 tally the votes for each candidate as those votes are received.

From time to time, the local POPs 116, 126 forward voting tallies foreach candidate to a centralized location 160. That forwarding process iscarried out over a data network 150, and not through the PSTN 140. Forexample, the Internet might be used as the data network 150. The systemand method of the present invention make use of a data network 150 toconnect local POPs 116, 126 with the centralized location 160 to combinethe tallies from each of the local POPs collecting the votes, as well asto provide instructions from the centralized location 160 to the POPs,as described below.

The votes may be forwarded by the POPs 116, 126 to the centralizedballot collection site 160 at predetermined time intervals, or aspredetermined numbers of votes are accumulated. For example, the POPsmay forward a tally of the votes every ten minutes, or as each 1,000votes are accumulated. By having the POPs forward the votes according toa schedule, it is assured that the centralized location has a reasonablycurrent account of voting activity for reporting on television orelsewhere. Alternatively, the centralized ballot collection site 160 maysend queries to the POPs, requesting vote tallies from each site as thecentral location is available to receive them.

Any number of protocols may be used for sending the tallied votinginformation. For example, the voting booths may send a summary filecontaining the candidate IDs and the number of votes for each candidate.Alternatively, the central location may query the voting booth for thenumber of votes for a first candidate and receive the tally, then queryfor the second candidate and receive the tally (i.e., a request/responseformat). All transfer of voting information to the central location ismade through a data network 150 such as the Internet.

The invention removes the focused overload on the AIN and the PSTNcaused by a nationally-triggered voting event, such as a televisionbroadcast. Instead, long distance communications providers compiletallies transmitted over the data network 150, and not calls over thePSTN.

The POP to which a balloting call is routed is not necessarily theclosest geographically to the caller. Instead, that POP is a terminatingswitch/POP capable of tabulating votes based on called numbers (orproviding IVR prompting) and accessible through the PSTN. That allows aload balancing so, for example, calls from the West Coast go to a“booth” in Houston, for example, calls from the Mid West go to a “booth”in Chicago, and calls from the East go to a “booth” in NY.Alternatively, the originating switch that first gets a balloting callcould be a voting booth.

In the case where there are different phone numbers for each candidate,the terminating switch/POP need not answer the call; instead, it simplyrecords how many calls it receives for a particular phone number.

The present invention reduces access charges that must be paid by thesponsoring IXC to the ILEC that initially handles the call. Typically,when an 8XX call comes into a local switch, the ILEC collects an accesscharge for completing the call to the long distance carrier. In thepresent invention, the destination is preferably a local number so noaccess charges are incurred. The call is instead sent from one localswitch to another. Even though an 8YY number is dialed to vote, thelocal originating switch belonging to the ILEC is instructed to send thecall to a local switch belonging to the long distance carrier.

As noted above, the data network 150 is also used for communicationsfrom the centralized site 160 to the local POPs 116, 126. Suchcommunications would typically transfer, for example, voice files forannouncements that use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Those voicefiles provide the announcements to be played out when voters call in tothe local sites.

As voting progresses from round to round and candidates drop out, thecentralized site 160 might update the announcements with new voicefiles, eliminating candidates no longer in the race. Alternatively, thecentralized site might send instructions to the local sites 116, 126 tomodify the existing files in some way (e.g., delete certain files).Protocols typically used for remote access might be used in thisinstance.

An exemplary method 200 of receiving a vote according to the invention,shown in block diagram form in FIG. 2, begins with providing (step 210)a network identifier for use in casting a ballot. For example, a networktelevision show might broadcast a toll-free 800 number to call to placea vote for a candidate. A call to the network identifier is thenreceived (step 220). The call includes a caller identifier.

Based on the caller identifier, the call is routed (step 230) to anetwork node that is local to the caller. The term “local,” as used inthe present disclosure, means geographically local or in an area of thenetwork that is “local” to the caller.

Tallied ballots are periodically received (step 240) from the localnetwork node. The ballots are transmitted from the network node througha data network such as the Internet. Also using the data network,instructions may be periodically forwarded (step 250) to the localnetwork node.

The foregoing Detailed Description is to be understood as being in everyrespect illustrative and exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scopeof the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from theDetailed Description, but rather from the claims as interpretedaccording to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws. For example,while the method of the invention is described herein with respect totelephone equipment and ANI technology, the method and apparatus of theinvention may be used with any network that would be available tovoters. For example, when the service platform is accessed from an IPdevice, technology that identifies the IP address of the device may beused instead of the ANI technology. Alternatively, the networkidentifier may be a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in a computernetwork. It is to be understood that the embodiments shown and describedherein are only illustrative of the principles of the present inventionand that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled inthe art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

1. A method for receiving a ballot from a caller in a network-basedvoting system, comprising: receiving from the caller a ballot addressedto a prearranged network identifier, the ballot including a calleridentifier; based on the caller identifier, out of a plurality ofnetwork Points of Presence (POPs), routing the ballot to the network POPthat is local to the caller; and periodically receiving tallied ballotsat a centralized collection site from the local POP.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the portion of the network-based voting system fromreceiving the caller ballot to the local POP is a telephony-basedsystem.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the network identifier is atelephone number.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein the caller identifieris a caller telephone number.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein thecaller telephone number is determined using Automatic NumberIdentification (ANI).
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion ofthe network-based voting system from the local POP to the centralizedcollection site is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.
 7. The method ofclaim 6 wherein at least one of the network identifier and the calleridentifier is an IP address.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein at leastone of the network identifier and the caller identifier is a UniformResource Locator).
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:forwarding instructions from the centralized collection site to thenetwork POPs for processing a ballot.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe instructions include data representing a set of candidates.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the prearranged network identifier identifiesa candidate for whom the caller is voting.
 12. A telephony-based votingsystem, comprising: a database containing a mapping of voter telephonenumbers to Points of Presence (POPs); a call router configured to routea telephone ballot containing a voter telephone number to a selected oneof a plurality of POPs based on the voter telephone number and themapping of voter telephone numbers to POPs; and a centralized collectionsite configured for periodically receiving telephone ballots from thePOPs.
 13. The system of claim 12 wherein the call router is furtherconfigured to route calls directed to a single balloting telephonenumber.
 14. The system of claim 12 wherein the call router is furtherconfigured to route telephone ballots directed to a plurality ofballoting telephone numbers.
 15. The system of claim 12 wherein thecentralized collection site is further configured to transmitinstructions to the POPs.
 16. The system of claim 15 wherein theinstructions include voice data.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein thevoice data includes a courtesy response.
 18. The system of claim 12wherein the POPs include interactive voice response systems.
 19. Thesystem of claim 18 wherein the interactive voice response systems areconfigured to prompt and receive a ballot for a particular candidate.20. A network-based voting system, comprising: a plurality of networkPoints of Presence (POPs) for receiving ballots from voters; a databasecontaining a mapping of voter network identifiers to the network POPs; arouter configured to route a received ballot to a selected one of theplurality of network POPs based on an associated voter networkidentifier and the mapping of voter network identifiers to network POPs;and a centralized site configured for periodically tallying the ballotsfrom each of the network POPs and for periodically transmittinginstructions to the network POPs for processing the ballots.